sagamore definition

English

WOTD – 9 August 2022

Etymology

A statue of Daniel Nimham, a sagamore (sense 1.1) or sachem of the Wappinger people.

From an Algonquian language; compare Abenaki sôgmô, sôgemô (“chief”), Mi'kmaq saqamaw (“chief”), and Penobscot sagama, sagema, sagemo, sangemo (“chief”), all ultimately from Proto-Algonquian *sa·kima·wa (“male chief”).^[1] Doublet of sachem.

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈsæɡəmɔː/
Audio (Southern England) (file)
(General American) IPA^(key): /ˈsæɡəˌmɔɹ/
Hyphenation: sa‧ga‧more

Noun

sagamore (plural sagamores) (US, chiefly historical)

Synonym of sachem
1. A chief of one or several Native American tribe(s), especially of the Algonquians. [from early 17th c.]
  - 1634, William Wood, “Of Their Apparell, Ornaments, Paintings, and Other Artificiall Deckings”, in New Englands Prospect. A True, Lively, and Experimentall Description of that Part of America, Commonly Called New England; […], London: […] Tho[mas] Cotes, for Iohn Bellamie, […], →OCLC, 2nd part (Of the Indians, […]), page 66:
    [A] Sagamore with a Humberd in his eare for a pendant, a black havvke on his occiput for his plume, Movvhackees for his gold chaine, good ſtore of VVampompeage begirting his loynes, his bovv in his hand, his quiver at his back, vvith ſix naked Indian ſplatterlaſhes at his heeles for his guard, thinkes himſelfe little inferiour to the great Cham; hee vvill not ſtick to ſay, hee is all one vvith King Charles.
  - 1693 May, “The Description of the American Tomineius, or Humming Bird, communicated by Nehemiah Grew, M. D. and Fellow of the Royal Society”, in Philosophical Transactions: Giving Some Account of the Present Undertakings, Studies and Labours of the Ingenious; in Many Considerable Parts of the World, volume XVII (for the year 1693), number 200, London: […] S[amuel] Smith and B[enjamin] Walford, […], published 1694, page 761:
    An Indian Soggamore is not in his full Pomp and Bravery without one of theſe Birds in his Ear for a Pendant.
  - 1826, [James Fenimore Cooper], chapter XIII, in The Last of the Mohicans; a Narrative of 1757. […], volume II, Philadelphia, Pa.: H[enry] C[harles] Carey & I[saac] Lea— […], →OCLC, page 222:
    Once we slept where we could hear the salt lake speak in its anger. Then we were rulers and Sagamores over the land.
  - 1858 October 16, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “The Courtship of Miles Standish”, in The Courtship of Miles Standish, and Other Poems, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC, stanza I (Miles Standish), page 12:
    Now we are ready, I think for any assault of the Indians; / Let them come, if they like, and the sooner they try it the better,— / Let them come if they like, be it sagamore, sachem, or pow-wow, / Aspinet, Samoset, Corbitant, Squanto, or Tokamahamon!
2. (informal, archaic) An eminent member of a group, or an eminent person in society.
(politics) A high-ranking officer of the Tammany Hall political organization responsible for taking care of its property.
Coordinate term: wiskinkie
- 1865, R. G. Horton, “The History of Tammany Society, or, Columbian Order. Chapter V. From 1834 to 1840.”, in D. T. Valentine, Manual of the Corporation of the City of New York, New York, N.Y.: Edmund Jones & Co. [for the Common Council], →OCLC, page 876:
  The society elects annually thirteen sachems, which represent the original thirteen States. […] The other officers of the society are a Secretary, Treasurer, Sagamore, and Wiskinkie. The duty of the Sagamore is to take care of the property of the society; that of the Wiskinkie, to act as doorkeeper.

Derived terms

sagamoreship (historical)

Related terms

Translations

synonym of sachem — see sachem

References

^ Compare “sagamore, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2022; “sagamore, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Anagrams

georamas

[1] Compare “sagamore, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2022; “sagamore, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

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